So, what's happening there?
Originally Frankie and Andy would both have been in it - for the obvious reason. Then Mr Bruyneel put his foot down and said that Frankie would be riding it, Andy would not.
This was a bit mean, as Andy is due in Luxembourg on the 29th May - the day before the Tour of Lux starts - to be presented with the Yellow Jersey for last year's Tour. It would have been nice, you would have thought, for him to be at home, have the presentation (slightly bitter-sweet, but still, it's a jersey) and then go on to race in his home country.
But no, Mr Bruyneel says that other things are more important.
Now Frankie has been diverted onto the Giro, so clearly he can't ride the Tour of Lux. ("Tour de Luxe?" ha! ha!)
The obvious thing to do would be to shove Andy back onto it.
Do we think that is what Mr Bruyneel will do? As of today, the RadioShack calendar is blank for the Tour of Lux.... Last year, of course, Andy chose not to ride it, as he was concentrating on the Tour de France, and felt it was not the best preparation. But I find it hard to believe that we won't have a single Schleck at the Tour of Lux.
What on earth would the tourist board say?
Welcome to the "Tour de non Schluxembourg" hehe
ReplyDeleteNo Schlecks??!! How can that be?? I'm not liking Mr Bruyneel anymore, I sure you Coug would do a much better job!
Oddly, I was just talking to my landlord about this. He remembers the Charly Gaul era with fondness and didn't mince words concerning the Schlecks and the Tour de Lux. He said, compared to TdF, the Giro, and La Vuelta, the TdLux is just a really minor race on the calendar. Even a lot of cycling fans don't follow it. It would be cool for the country and the Lux/Schleck fans, sure, but for big Tour prep it's not very useful in regards to training or PR.
ReplyDeleteAs to how he felt about the Schlecks themselves, he wasn't real impressed. They don't have "anything close to good form" this season. He thinks its best they save what little they have for the big stuff.
That's straight from a Lux-ish mouth.
Personally, I'm pretty bummed. I was looking forward to watching and cheering one of them on with all the locals and getting a real sense of the fan base here.
Maybe next year. Maybe.
I totally agree with CG's landlord. The potential risk of loss before the tour?? I think that's why ToC is "out" for them too. However....it is interesting that Chris Horner will be in ToC and also TdF and - baring major mishaps - he could feasibly podium (if not win) both. Then again, we'll see if he's fully over the trauma from last years TdF.
ReplyDeleteAlso....if something (pfft, pfft, pfft no, no, no) should happen to Chris in the ToC...will Frankie end up at TdF afterall???
Stay tuned!
BE
Just saw on twitter...
ReplyDelete" Riis secures holiday company as co-sponsor for 4 years"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think it's potentially for more than Conti.....just sayin............
BE
Oh my word. Fact or fiction? TheRaceRadio is reporting on twitter that JB was served with a subpeona upon arrival in the US for the ToC. I've only seen another mention of it on a Triathalon forum and haven't been able to confirm it on the usual cycling websites so I guess we'll see if I've been sucked in by more "cycling snark" in the morning. - Kat
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to research that rumor.....nothing confirmed or denied yet to report. Wouldn't surprise me though, after Lance's "announcement"....soon as I read that I expected more bombs to burst.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, just a supeona is not a big deal. Just means you have to go somewhere and talk to someone. It's not an arrest warrant or anything. Simply a demand for communication.
Interesting.
BE
Way to go Frankie!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy he did this. Needed to do this. So glad he did!
BE
Whoohoo! Yay Frankie and Ryder!!! :D
ReplyDeleteI hope that JB's presence in CA isn't a distraction to the team; I just want them to have fun racing. You are right BE, this is interesting. Other than the USADA process, I thought that this was over. Maybe it is, maybe it's not. We'll see.
Kat